Ding will also miss the last 2 events because of the Asian Games -that and his commitments in China in July have probably meant he realised he was always going to be struggling to play enough events anyway thus making PTC 4 a low priority (even though he is I think back in England that week)

If these 2 bob events were being played in China - how many of the top British pro's would be going over there to play in them?Had these events been scheduled once the snooker season was under way (which clearly wouldn't be easy as there are 12 of them) then I'm sure Ding would have played, but he clearly prefers to spend more time at home relaxing than have to travel backwards and forwards to Sheffield which would probably end up costing him more money than he would have earned anyway.

these places might be watche by millions on tv, but even they are not immune to living folk not bothering to venture to see it live....or at least having it in arenas too big too fill, which is the key here...